Dead Ever After (Review)

February 13, 2014

Title: Dead Ever After

Author: Charlaine Harris

Publication Year: 2013

Pages: 352

Genre: Fiction, Fantasy

Source: Borrowed from the library

From the cover:

Sookie Stackhouse finds it easy to turn down the request of former barmaid Arlene when she wants her job back at Merlotte’s. After all, Arlene tried to have Sookie killed. But her relationship with Eric Northman is not so clearcut. He and his vampires are keeping their distance…and a cold silence. And when Sookie learns the reason why, she is devastated.

Then a shocking murder rocks Bon Temps, and Sookie is arrested for the crime.

But the evidence against Sookie is weak, and she makes bail. Investigating the killing, she’ll learn that what passes for truth in Bon Temps is only a convenient lie. What passes for justice is more spilled blood. And what passes for love is never enough…

Seriously. I’m firmly on the “WTF?!?” camp’s side. It’s almost like Harris set out to purposely piss off all of the long-time fans. Not only did Sookie go off in a completely different romantic direction, but for the first time in the series (or possible the second, after the incident with Bill), I actually really hated a character that her romance had ended with. And I loved Eric for so long in the book series, even more than I did in True Blood! But so many of the things that he said and did in Dead Ever After just made me wonder why Harris had decided to write such a complete about-face change to his persona.

I did sort of like the subplot concerning Arlene’s death, but even that wasn’t enough to make up for the rest of the crud in the novel. I kind of wish that the whole Freya subplot had never been started, because everything seemed to go speeding downhill from there.

As for ending up sort-of-kind-of-maybe with Sam? That felt like a cop-out. Not that I don’t like Sam, but the way it was written was just … well … not up to par. And that was a huge disappointment.

All in all … I feel like the earlier books in the series were much better, and everything kind of came down after the midpoint. To be honest, it might be better to just stop reading around the end of Dead in the Family. Not much that comes after that is worth the trouble.